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Last minute exam success stories

come on guys we all know you probably leave things to the last minute, at least a few times lol so share with TSR your best "cramming miracles"!
AS and A2 miracles no GCSE ones please lol. Say how long before your exam would you start your prep, how much you knew at the time of starting prep and your result. Might be some motivation to people here

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Reply 1
Avatar for z33
z33
21
got none here sorry :/
last minute doesnt work for Alevels X'D
Revised the day before for both my AS History exams and my AS Lit exam, got As. Revised the day before for my A2 Lit exam and also got an A. Cramming works for me and essay subjects. :tongue: Not so much for science.

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Reply 3
Avatar for JPencil
JPencil
9
Original post by Changing Skies
Revised the day before for both my AS History exams and my AS Lit exam, got As. Revised the day before for my A2 Lit exam and also got an A. Cramming works for me and essay subjects. :tongue: Not so much for science.

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Can confirm, cramming for essay based subjects works. Revised the night before AS Psychology and got an A.

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There is actually already a thread on tsr with lots of stories, go find it :tongue:

Doesn't work for me though :frown:
I never seemed to understand how it can be possible to cram everything in the last couple of hours, but last summer I timetabled to do my Law and ICT revision about a week before those exams and unfortunately enough I got very ill for two weeks and that was exactly the time I was planning to revise and I physically couldn't. Then, right on the exam day I woke up at 3 and felt well enough to revise (actually I couldn't sleep) in the morning, so I spent about 5 hours revising. I never felt so bad in my life, but ended up with full UMS in ICT (it is pretty easy) and a pathetic B in Law (which I now need to resit:angry:). Moral of the story: either don't get ill or revise constantly throughout the year.
Also can confirm, I revised a night before for both my AS Philosophy exams and got an A (with 97ums for the second unit :biggrin:).

Although it's not the same for English, you cannot afford to do that for because it's based on skills which need time to perfect.
Original post by JPencil
Can confirm, cramming for essay based subjects works. Revised the night before AS Psychology and got an A.

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How? There is so much info to remember:s-smilie:.
Currently I have more than 200 cases and statutes that I need to remember along with years, sections and appeals which make it even worse (Law A-level).
Original post by 0123456543210
I never seemed to understand how it can be possible to cram everything in the last couple of hours, but last summer I timetabled to do my Law and ICT revision about a week before those exams and unfortunately enough I got very ill for two weeks and that was exactly the time I was planning to revise and I physically couldn't. Then, right on the exam day I woke up at 3 and felt well enough to revise (actually I couldn't sleep) in the morning, so I spent about 5 hours revising. I never felt so bad in my life, but ended up with full UMS in ICT (it is pretty easy) and a pathetic B in Law (which I now need to resit:angry:). Moral of the story: either don't get ill or revise constantly throughout the year.


Was this OCR law?
Original post by fire_and_ice
Was this OCR law?


Yes, OCR Sources of Law. I genuinely thought I failed that despite the exam not having much content in it (in comparison to English Legal System).
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by fire_and_ice
Also can confirm, I revised a night before for both my AS Philosophy exams and got an A (with 97ums for the second unit :biggrin:).

Although it's not the same for English, you cannot afford to do that for because it's based on skills which need time to perfect.

Depends.

I did zero work for GCSE English Lit & Lang but got an A and an A* in them.

Probably different at A level but I dropped them after GCSE.
I did my CIE Physics A Level and Chemistry A2 in November 2015. I started the courses in mid-August from scratch.

I love Physics, so it was easy to understand. Other than explanation, all I did was solve some past papers and a revision a couple of days before the exam.

Actually, I started Chemistry after the 1st week of September, so most of it was last minute cramming.

Overall, I did quite well and eagerly expecting the results after tomorrow.
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by 0123456543210
Yes, OCR Sources of Law. I genuinely thought I failed that.


Likewise. I got the same grade for that unit and revised about 3-5 days prior to the exam. What unit are you doing this year?
I can give a university example. I spent too long on an assignment in my final year, which left me with a week to revise for my first exam, and the rest of them. (First time revising the modules for most of them). Still graduated with a 1st :u:
Original post by dairychocolate
Depends.

I did zero work for GCSE English Lit & Lang but got an A and an A* in them.

Probably different at A level but I dropped them after GCSE.


Tbh I was the same at GCSE and got two As for both. But A-Level is a completely different story imo.
(edited 8 years ago)
when should i start revising for my as subjects?
I remember procrastinating all my higher geography revision till the night before and ended up staying up all night revising but I came out with an A! I practically collapsed as soon as I got home though lol
Original post by fire_and_ice
Likewise. I got the same grade for that unit and revised about 3-5 days prior to the exam. What unit are you doing this year?


I am doing criminal law, I love it and I hate it at the same time due to the enormous amounts of principles, cases, statutes, sections, amendments and flipping Law Commission trying to criticise everything just creating workload for us, poor students. Yet, I can't wait to start my Law degree:smile:
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by 0123456543210
I am doing criminal law, I love it and I hate it at the same time due to enormous amounts of principles, cases, statutes, sections, amendments and flipping Law Commission trying to amend everything just creating workload for us, poor students. Yet, I can't wait to start my Law degree:smile:


Likewise (once again). I'm teaching myself the content though and finding it quite overwhelming due to the amount of content.

Where did you apply? :smile:
For Humanities-based subjects, it is possible. Got A's for AS Eng and AS History. Saying that, I would say that I learned the skills that I needed to pass the exam beforehand and just revised last minute to cram the information.

However, never do such a thing for Maths or Science subjects. You will not be happy with your grade lol

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